Contractor completes £5m Black Country hotel project

A new hotel has opened in West Bromwich following the completion of a £5m development programme.

The new hotel is a welcome boost to the ongoing regeneration of the town by helping to transform a brownfield site next to the West Bromwich Building Society’s new headquarters.

Work started on the 78-bed Travelodge facility last summer and Bromsgrove-based contractor Hinton Group said the 34-week project had been completed on time and to budget.

Andy Elwell, director, Hinton Group, said: “It’s great to see the Travelodge development in West Bromwich reach practical completion. (It) will provide the town with a much-needed facility in a key location.”

The group has an existing relationship with Travelodge and is currently working on several more projects with the operator.

“We are also actively looking for further Travelodge development opportunities nationwide,” added Mr Elwell.

Hinton Group is expected to reach practical completion on a £6m 78-bed Travelodge adjacent to Dudley’s Black Country Living Museum at the end of July.

In Telford, the group has secured permission from Telford & Wrekin Council for another Travelodge hotel at the town’s Southwater scheme and work is expected to start on site next month (June).

Hinton Design and Build, the construction arm of the group, has also started on site at Melksham, Wiltshire, where it will deliver a new 60-bed hotel for the operator, complete with a Greggs unit and a Stabucks drive-thru.

Hinton Group has also secured two further sites, which will provide Travelodge with an additional 150 rooms.

The West Bromwich hotel has created 25 full and part-time jobs. More than 80 were generated during the construction project.

Tony O’Brien, Travelodge’s UK development director, said: “The new Travelodge forms part of the recently opened Providence Place development. We are delighted to have secured such a prominent site in the heart of West Bromwich.”